Established in 1979 by ARTBA’s Traffic Safety Industry Division (TSID), the Landen Award is presented annually to those individuals who have “made significant and lasting contributions to the safety of our nation’s highways.” To be eligible, a person must have been employed, or be retired from, a private business or publicly-funded organization, made a significant contribution to highway safety and be nominated by a TSID member.

The two were honored last month during the TSID’s annual summer meeting in Denver, Colo.

Flaherty spent more than three decades advocating the need for improved retroreflectivity in roadway and vehicle signs and markings to enhance motorist information in both long-term road operations and shorter-term construction operations.

Flaherty, who began his career in traffic safety in 1987, spent 25 years with Reflexite Americas (acquired by ORAFOL in 2011). He served on several industry committees and boards, including ARTBA’s TSID board, the American Traffic Safety Services Association board, and the National Committee on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (NCUTCD) Temporary Traffic Control Technical Committee.

Hawkins also holds a joint appointment as a research engineer with the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI). He’s spent 32 years in College Station. Prior to joining TTI, he worked in the private sector for several consulting firms.

Hawkins currently serves as the chair of the NCUTCD and is active in both the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) and the Transportation Research Board. He has received multiple awards, including the 2012 ITE Wilbur S. Smith “Distinguished Transportation Educator Award,” the 2010 Texas ITE “Transportation Engineer of the Year,” and the TTI/Trinity “Outstanding Researcher Award” in 1998.

Established in 1902,Washington, D.C.-based ARTBA is the “consensus voice” of the U.S. transportation design and construction industry before Congress, federal agencies, the White House, news media and the general public.

ARTBA is a non-partisan federation whose primary goal is to aggressively grow and protect transportation infrastructure investment to meet the public and business demand for safe and efficient travel. In support of this mission, ARTBA also provides programs and services designed to give its public and private sector members a global competitive edge.